Anatomy is what kind of science? History of the development of anatomy

Biology is one of the largest and largest sciences in the modern world. It includes a number of different sciences and sections, each of which deals with the study of certain mechanisms in the work of living systems, their life activity, structure, molecular structure, and so on.

One of such sciences is just an interesting, very ancient, but to this day topical science anatomy.

What is studying

Anatomy is a science that studies the internal structure and morphological features of the human body, as well as human development in the process of phylogenesis, ontogeny and anthropogenesis.

The subject of the study of anatomy is:

• The shape of the human body and all its organs;
• The structure of the organs and the body of man;
• The origin of people;
• Individual development of each organism (ontogeny).

The object of studying this science is a person and all the external and internal features of the structure that he has.

The anatomy itself as a science has developed a very long time, since the interest in the structure and functioning of internal organs was relevant for man always. However, modern anatomy includes a number of related sections of biological science, which are closely associated with it and are, as a rule, treated in a comprehensive manner. These are such sections of anatomy as:

1. Systematic anatomy.
2. Topographic or surgical.
3. Dynamic.
4. Plastic.
5. Age.
6. Comparative.
7. Pathological.
8. Clinical.

Thus, human anatomy is a science that studies everything that at least somehow relates to the structure of the human body and its physiological processes. In addition, this science is closely connected and interacts with such spin-off from it and become independent sciences, like:

• Anthropology is the doctrine of man as such, his position in the system of the organic world and interaction with the society and the environment. Social and biological characteristics of the human being, consciousness, psyche, character, behavior.
• Physiology is the science of all processes occurring within the human body (mechanisms of sleep and wakefulness, inhibition and excitation, nerve impulses and their conduct, humoral and nervous regulation, and so on).
• Comparative anatomy - is engaged in the study of embryonic development and the structure of various organs, as well as their systems, while comparing the embryos of animals of different classes, taxa.
• Evolutionary teaching is the doctrine of the origin and formation of man from the time of appearance on the planet to our days (phylogenesis), and also the proof of the unity of the entire biomass of our planet.
• Genetics is the study of a person's genetic code, mechanisms for storing and transferring hereditary information from generation to generation.

As a result, we see that the human anatomy is a perfectly harmonious complex combination of many sciences. Thanks to their work, people know a lot about the human body and all its mechanisms.

History of the development of anatomy

The anatomy reveals its roots in ancient times. After all, since the appearance of a man, he was interested to know what is inside him, why, if injured, blood goes, what it is, why a person breathes, sleeps, eats. All these questions from ancient times did not give rest to many representatives of the human race.

However, the answers to them did not come immediately. It took more than one century to accumulate enough theoretical and practical knowledge and give a full and detailed answer to most questions about the work of the human body.

The history of the development of anatomy is conditionally divided into three main periods:

• Anatomy of the ancient world;
• Anatomy of the Middle Ages;
• New time.

Let's consider each stage in more detail.

Ancient world

The peoples who became the founders of the science of anatomy, the first people interested in and describing the structure of the internal organs of man are the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Persians. Representatives of precisely these civilizations gave rise to anatomy as a science, comparative anatomy and embryology, as well as evolution and psychology. Let's consider their contribution in the form of a table in detail.

Middle Ages

This period is characterized by the devastation and decline in the development of any sciences, as well as the domination of the church, which prohibited the opening, research and study of anatomy in animals, considered it a sin. Therefore, no significant changes and discoveries were made at that time.

But the Renaissance, on the other hand, gave many impulses to the modern state of medicine and anatomy. The main contribution was made by three scientists:

1. Leonardo da Vinci. He can be considered the founder of plastic anatomy. He applied his artistic talents for the benefit of anatomy, created over 700 drawings, accurately depicting muscles, a skeleton. Anatomy of organs and their topography are shown to them clearly and correctly. For work was engaged in the autopsy of corpses.
2. Jacob Silvius. A teacher of many anatomists of his time. He opened the furrows in the structure of the brain.
3. Andéas Vesalius. A very talented doctor who devoted many years to a thorough study of anatomy. He conducted his observations on the basis of autopsy of corpses, learned much about bones from the materials collected in the cemetery. The work of his whole life is the seven-volume book On the Structure of the Human Body. His works have caused confrontation among the masses, because in his understanding anatomy is a science that should be studied in practice. This contradicted the work of Galen, who were at that time in high esteem.
4. William Harvey. His main work was a treatise "Anatomical study of the movement of the heart and blood in animals." He was the first to prove that the blood moves in a closed circle of vessels, from large to small through small tubes. He also owns the first statement that each animal develops from the egg and, in the process of its development, repeats the entire historical development of the living as a whole (modern biogenetic law).
5. Fallopius, Eustachius, Willis, Glisson, Azelli, Peke, Bertolini are the names of those scientists of this epoch who, with their labors, gave a complete idea of what the anatomy of man is. This is an invaluable contribution, which gave rise to a modern start in the development of this science.

New time

This period belongs to the XIX - XX centuries and is characterized by a number of very important discoveries. All of them could be accomplished thanks to the invention of the microscope. Marcello Malpighi supplemented and substantiated practically what Garvey predicted in his time - the presence of capillaries. The scientist Shumlyansky confirmed this with his works, and also proved the cyclicity and closure of the circulatory system.

Also, a number of discoveries made it possible to expand the concept of "anatomy" in more detail. These were the following works:

• Galvani Luigi. This man made a huge contribution to the development of physics, since he discovered electricity. However, he also managed to consider the presence of electrical impulses in animal tissues. So he became the ancestor of electrophysiology.
• Caspar Wolf. He refuted the theory of preformism, which stated that all organs exist in a reduced form in the sex cell, and then simply grow. He became the founder of embryogenesis.
• Louis Pasteur. As a result of many years of experience, he proved the existence of bacteria. Developed methods of vaccination.
• Jean Baptiste Lamarque. He made a huge contribution to evolutionary teachings. He was the first to suggest that a person, like all living things, develops under the influence of the environment.
• Carl Baer. He opened the sexual space of the female body, described the embryonic leaflets and gave rise to the development of knowledge about ontogeny.
• Charles Darwin. He made a huge contribution to the development of evolutionary teachings and explained the origin of man. He also proved the unity of all life on the planet.
• Pirogov, Mechnikov, Sechenov, Pavlov, Botkin, Ukhtomsky, Burdenko - the names of Russian scientists of the XIX-XX century, who gave a full idea that anatomy is a whole science, complex, multifaceted and comprehensive. Their labors are obliged to medicine in many matters. They were the pioneers of the mechanisms of immunity, higher nervous activity, spinal cord and nervous regulation, as well as many questions of genetics. Severtsov established the direction in anatomy - the evolutionary morphology, which was based on the biogenetic law (authors - Haeckel, Darwin, Kovalevsky, Baer, Muller).

The development of all these people and must anatomy. Biology is a whole complex of sciences, but anatomy is the oldest and most valuable of them, since it affects the most important - human health.

What is the clinical anatomy?

Clinical anatomy is an intermediate section between topographic and surgical anatomy. It considers the structure of the general plan of a particular body. For example, if it is a larynx, the physician should know the general position of the organ in the body before surgery, with what it is connected and how it interacts with other organs.

Today, clinical anatomy is very widespread. It is often possible to find expressions of the clinical anatomy of the nose, pharynx, throat or any other organ. Here is the clinical anatomy that will tell you exactly what components this body is composed of, where it is located, what it borders on, what role it plays, and so on.

Each specialist doctor of a narrow profile knows fully the clinical anatomy of the organ over which he works. This is the key to successful treatment.

Age anatomy

Age anatomy is a branch of this science that deals with the study of human ontogeny. That is, he considers all the processes that accompany him from the moment of conception and the stage of the embryo to the moment of the end of the life cycle - death. In this case, the main foundation for the age-related anatomy is gerontology and embryology.

The founder of this section of anatomy can be considered Karl Bar. It was he who first suggested the individual development of each living being. Later this process was called ontogenesis.

Age anatomy gives an idea of the mechanisms of aging, which is important for medicine.

Comparative anatomy

Comparative anatomy is a science whose main task is to prove the unity of all living things on the planet. And specifically this science is engaged in comparing the embryos of different species of animals (not only species, but also classes, taxa) and the identification of general patterns in development.

Comparative anatomy and physiology are closely interconnected structures that study one common question: how do the embryos of different beings look and function in comparison with each other?

Pathological anatomy

Pathological anatomy is a scientific discipline that deals with the study of pathological processes in the cells and tissues of a human being. This makes it possible to study various diseases, to examine the effect of their course on the body and, accordingly, to find methods of treatment.

The tasks of pathological anatomy are as follows:

• To study the causes of various diseases in humans;
• To consider the mechanisms of their origin and progress at the cellular level;
• Identify all possible complications in pathologies and options for the outcome of disease;
• To study the mechanisms of death from diseases;
• To consider the reasons for the inefficiency of treatment of pathologies.

The founder of this discipline is Rudolf Virchow. It was they who created the cellular theory, which speaks of the development of diseases at the level of cells and tissues of the human body.

Topographic anatomy

Topographic anatomy is a scientific discipline, otherwise known as surgical. Its basis is the division of the human body into anatomical areas, each of which is in a specific part of the body: the head, trunk or limbs.

The main tasks of this science are:

• Detailed structure of each area;
• Synopia of organs (their location relative to each other);
• The connection of organs with the skin (holotopia);
• Blood supply to each anatomical area;
• Lymph drainage;
• Nervous regulation;
• Skeletal to the skeleton.

All these tasks are formed in the conditions of the principles: study taking into account diseases, pathologies, age and individual characteristics of organisms.